Microsoft wins $304,994 in Australian software piracy case

This is not the first time
McLane has been in trouble for selling counterfeit software. The court
ordered McLane to pay $4994.95 in compensatory damages plus $300,000 in
addition damages due to his repeated infringements.

The Court has also imposed orders to restrain him from infringing copyright in the future.

McLane previously had 1473 counterfeit discs seized by the Victorian Police in 2005 and a further 799 in 2006.

As part of the investigation, Microsoft analyzed four copies of
counterfeit Windows and two copies of counterfeit Office sold by McLane,
finding that one Windows copy and both Office samples contained
malware; the Windows Update on all four samples was disabled, while
Windows Firewall had been tampered with making activation impossible.
One sample had User Account Control set to "Never notify" and another
sample had Remote Desktop turned on and a modified hosts file, which can
be a vector for attack by malware.

"The risks of deploying
pirated software are serious, ranging from system crashes and data loss
to identity theft. We encourage all consumers to purchase their software
from reputable retailers they can trust," Microsoft Australia legal
counsel, Clayton Noble, said. "According to an IDC study, consumers will
spend 1.5 billion hours and $US22 billion on resolving issues created
by the malware concealed in pirated software in 2013, while over a
quarter using counterfeit solutions will have their PC infected with a
virus."